Chipotle-Maple Roasted Carrots

Chipotle & Maple Roasted Carrots – an easy side dish for holidays. The pomegranate makes them so festive!

Do you guys believe in rebirths and journey of souls? I first came across this book – Many Lives Many Masters by Dr. Brian Weiss 15 years ago when I lost my sister. My sister was 2 years elder to me and we were very close. I was finding it very difficult to cope up with the loss when someone recommended me this book. The book really helped me to come to terms with the loss and sort of make peace with it.

I became a huge fan of Dr. Weiss work and went on to read all his books over the next few years. They have helped me deal with a lot of personal tragedies in the last 15 year or so. He says we never really die, it’s a journey of spiritual growth on which we all walk alone. But he also says that we are always surrounded by those we love, the souls are always connected so we never really lose our loved ones.

These days I have been thinking a lot about why my mom and dad suffered so much in their life when all they did was spread love and happiness and then I read one of his quotes few days back which said “a difficult lifetime may not be a punishment or some karmic debt. It may be an opportunity for accelerated growth. More learning occur when there are many obstacles than when there are few. A life filled with difficulties presents the most opportunity for the soul’s growth. You may have chosen the more difficult life so that you could enhance your spiritual progress”.

It felt like he answered my questions with that quote – at least there’s something to cling on to. Why am I sharing all this today? That’s because I am going to attend his workshop in Portland this weekend. It has always been a dream to attend his workshops and I am so looking forward to it. I hope to have some of my questions answered. Have you guys read his book? I would love to know if you have and if you haven’t I highly recommend it.

It has been very cold here last few days and I am just drawn to roasting vegetables. If left to me, I would eat roasted vegetables everyday! These days my favorite way to roast veggies is by adding chipotle powder to it. Seriously, I am kind of obsessed with chipotle and my husband doesn’t get it! I keep adding it to everything these days – sofritas, butternut squash chili, you name it! I love the smokey spice kick that it adds to dishes and so it was obvious that I would make something for Thanksgiving using chipotle.

These Chipotle & Maple Roasted Carrots might just be my favorite side dish this year. Chipotle adds just the right kick to sweet carrots and maple making this a very flavorful dish. I also topped these roasted carrots with sesame seeds and pomegranate just to make them look festive. Don’t they look perfect for the holidays? I used baby carrots that I got at Trader Joe’s for this dish but you may use any other carrot of choice.

These Chipotle Maple Roasted Carrots are

✓ sweet and spicy with addition of maple and chipotle

✓ perfect side dish for the holidays

✓ a great way to make everyone eat their veggies!

Even if you don’t like carrots, I suggest you give this a try. The flavors are just so good together. I prefer using the multicolored carrots because it makes them look so festive. Of course regular carrots would work just as well.

Method

In a small bowl or jar, whisk together olive oil, garlic and maple syrup.

Toss carrots with the marinade. A good way to do this is to add carrots to a zip lock bag, pour over the marinade and mix till well combined. Transfer carrots to a baking sheet (in a single layer) and roast at 450 F degrees for 30-35 minutes or until they are tender and edges are caramelized. Don’t forget to stir the carrots every 10 minutes or so.

Once done, take the carrots out of the oven and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Garnish with pomegranate, cilantro and serve.

* Please note that larger carrots would take more time. The baby carrots that I used here were done in 30 minutes.

Chipotle-Maple Roasted Carrots

Chipotle & Maple Roasted Carrots - this is an easy side dish for the holidays! Sweet carrots with a spice kick from chipotle and paprika!

Prep Time:10minutes

Cook Time:30minutes

Total Time:40minutes

Servings:3

Author:Manali

5 from 2 votes

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Ingredients

1lbbaby carrots

2tablespoonsolive oil

2garlic cloves, minced

2tablespoonsmaple syrup

1/4teaspoonchipotle powder, or to taste

1/4teaspoonsmoked paprika

1/2teaspoonsalt, or to taste

1/8teaspoonblack pepper, or to taste

1tablespoonsesame seeds, to sprinkle

pomegranate arils, to serve

Instructions

Pre heat oven to 450 F degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

In a small bowl or jar, whisk together olive oil, garlic and maple syrup.

Toss carrots with the marinade. A good way to do this is to add carrots to a zip lock bag, pour over the marinade and mix till well combined.

Transfer carrots to a baking sheet (in a single layer) and roast at 450 F degrees for 30-35 minutes or until they are tender and edges are caramelized. Don't forget to stir the carrots every 10 minutes or so.

Once done, take the carrots out of the oven and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Garnish with pomegranate, cilantro and serve.

I’m really tempted to try making these carrots for Thanksgiving dinner. Are you going to post a recipe for the turkey as well? Maybe an Indian twist to it? I also want to share with you that I’m so glad you mentioned the book “Many lives Many masters”. It was an amazing read and soothing for the soul. Enjoy the workshop!

Thank you Anu,hope you give this a try! I won’t be posting any turkey recipe since I am a vegetarian 🙂 but I have some vegetarian main dish on the blog like this roasted cauliflower – https://www.cookwithmanali.com/roasted-whole-cauliflower-tikka/ ..hope you try that. And yes truly that book is soothing for the soul,I am looking forward to the workshop, will share my experience on the blog for sure!

I hope you enjoyed that workshop this weekend, Manali! That quote was really poignant, and it’s true that difficulties are really just opportunities to excel. Thanks for sharing this awesome, recipe, too! I love the spicy chipotle combined with the maple syrup here. Totally perfect for the season! 🙂